A two-day seminar to discuss the role of copyright in fostering creative industries and contribution to socio-cultural development was held in Thimphu. It was organised by the department of intellectual property in cooperation with the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).
Copyright is a legal term used to describe the rights that creators have over literary and artistic works.
The seminar discussed emergent legislative and enforcement challenges in national copyright system and how to address them. With the growing trend of media and entertainment sectors, infringement and piracy are a growing trend. And due to this, there is limited appreciation and acknowledgement for creative works.
“Coming from the music background, for now, I think the most important issue is that people don’t understand the concept of copyright. So that’s why it’s very difficult to take it any further by imposing penalties or criminalising the whole act. So I believe that we have to take a few steps back and take the time to talk to each other and have a dialogue and have people understand what copyright is all about in the first place,” Choeying Jatsho, the Owner & Music Producer of M-Studio, said.
Music, paintings and architectural drawings and literary compositions can be copied by someone without the consent or knowledge of the original composer. It is illegal as per the copyright act. Copy right gives protection to literary works, films, musical compositions, artistic works such as paintings, drawings, photographs, architecture and sculpture.
“When you invest your time in creating your work or you invest money in creating a film or a production of music, without copyright you can’t count on getting your money back. So maybe the composer will still compose because the composer feels an urge to do it. But getting it out to the public requires that some people put money in it. And without copyright, anybody can take it and they have no certainty of getting any money back,” Jørgen Blomqvist, the Affiliated Professor of International Copyright, Copenhagen, said.
“For instance, you compose a song that goes viral and that does really well and everybody knows it. Now suppose if you are the copyright holder of that song, a juice company wants to have that song in their ad. So what do you do, they ask for a license, you give a license for the use of your music in their ad and you get certain money. So the idea is that if you hold a copyright, it’s like the right for the property,” Choeying Jatsho said.
To further enhance the awareness of copyright and related rights, the department is revising the copyright act 2001, agreeing to relevant treaties and looking at effective enforcement of rights by creating robust awareness programs.
